The shadow of the fire Book one: The shadow's rise
by Blazetwin88
Summary: What if there was someone hiding in the deepest parts of your mind, someone who isn't exactly like you, someone… darker. What if they got out of your mind and into the world you live in, and they start changing your life, trick you into helping them, maybe even hurt your friends. Would you ever be able to forgive them? Full summary inside. Contains greenflame and background bruise.
1. Prologe

**Prologue**

**A/N So, this is my first fanfiction on this site, so I apologize if there are any errors with the chapters.**

**Anyway, on with the prologue**

?'s POV

Growling, I pulled my knees closer to my chest, watching through the eyes of him, I could see all the fun he had. Ever since I came here, it's been the same thing every day, just watch him live his life while being tortured by his dark thoughts.

I'm sick of it! It's been at least three years, and I don't think I can take one more year like this. All these horrible thoughts he has about himself feels like knives being stabbed into my body, just without the blood and wounds, but the pain is all there.

During my first few months here, I blamed the first spinjitzu master for my existence, but now, after looking through his memories, I realized it was his fault. It was all his fault. He was the one with the horrible thoughts, he was the one who picked up the staff that created me, he was the reason I was here. He was the one giving me this pain, whether he knows it or not.

Growling once more, I placed my chin on my knees and continued staring at the window that showed me things through his eyes. It was not the worst life, after all, I could watch him live his life, it was better than being locked in this empty dark void without anything to do.

I snapped out of my thoughts when something caught my eye. Turning my head to the right, I saw a faint blazing red glow far away from where I was currently sitting.

Feeling curiosity take over, I got to my feet and started walking towards the light. But the closer I got, the further away it seemed to be, so I broke into a run. But the light was out of my reach the entire time, no matter how fast I ran.

After a while, I gave up and sunk to the floor, panting. But then I felt something wrapping itself around my wrists and ankles. Lifting my head, I saw that it was multiple dark purple tentacles of some sort, almost black in color. I tried to get out of their grip, but it was hard, and when I finally got one of my hands free, the tentacle grabbed it again. I tried to scream but another tentacle covered my mouth before I remembered there was no one to scream for.

I had been alone in here for as long as I could remember, why would someone suddenly appear now just because I screamed for them? The answer, they wouldn't. And even if they did, why would they help me? It's not like I ever did anything for them.

So, I shut my mouth and just accepted this, because whatever this was, it wouldn't stop anytime soon.

Or that's what I thought, until the tentacles started pulling me into the floor which suddenly was almost like a thick liquid. I felt fear overwhelm me and forgot all about why there was no use to do it since no one would hear and screamed at the top of my lungs.

I didn't want to die, even though my life sucked, I didn't want it to end. I never got to see him grow up. Even though I hated him, he was the only person I ever cared about, all the other people I saw through his eyes were nothing to me, but he was the only one I had ever known.

As I sunk into the floor, my scream faded away and a few tears clouded my vision as I disappeared into the black void and everything faded to darkness.


	2. Chapter one: A bad feeling

**Chapter one: A bad feeling**

**A/N This fanfic was written about four months ago, and I've improved a lot since I started, so the first few chapters (the ones in this book as well as in the next one) won't have the same quality as the later ones (the ones in book3/4 to where I'm now in the writing) will have or the prologue had. So just bear with me here until then, but one good thing is that these will still have a bit better quality than it had originally. And the mystery person's POVs are newly written which makes them have a bit more quality than the rest of the chapters.**

**Anyway, enough talking. Let's get on with the story.**

**I do not own Lego Ninjago, just my OCs**

* * *

It was early evening in Ninjago. The sun was slowly setting, causing the stars to start showing on the sky, the moon became more and more visible as well.

On the bounty, the ninjas were all relaxing in the living room. Jay, Cole, and Nya were sitting on the couch watching a movie. Lloyd and Zane were talking about some new training routines that could help their fighting technique to get better. Sensei Wu was sipping his tea while reading a book.

And Kai, he was leaning against the wall, thinking. He had been having a strange feeling lately, the feeling like someone was watching him. The others thought he was just restless because there hadn't been any big alarms in about two weeks, mostly small things that people could handle themselves, like helping a cat from a tree, or some people vandalizing the benches in the park.

But Kai knew that wasn't the reason, he couldn't lie, he was restless and bored, but it was not the reason he felt that feeling. He had a history of getting bad feelings ever since the whole thing on Chen's island. But nothing had ever happened, so everyone else thought it was nothing. But recently, the feeling in his gut had gotten worse, and it worried him.

Nya turned her head and saw how her brother seemed bothered by something, "Hey Kai."

Lifting his head Kai looked at his sister, "Yeah?"

"Why don't you come and watch the movie with us."

After thinking about it for a second the brunette then shook his head, "Nah, I think I'll just go to bed. See you guys tomorrow." He then walked out of the living room and into the hallway.

Walking down the hallway towards his bedroom, he couldn't help but think about the incident that happened on Chen's island.

Once he got to the door, he entered the room. His room was a bit warmer than the others', it also had a little bit of smoke smell in the air, but it was understandable when thinking about Kai being the elemental master of fire. His bed stood to the right wall from the door and on the left side of the room he had a small window. At the feet side of Kai's bed, a desk was placed against the wall. The desk had three small drawers and one that was a little bigger. On the desk, there were some notebooks and two photo frames. One was a photo of all the ninjas plus Sensei Wu. And the other was a photo of Kai and Nya with their parents when they were younger. Kai had two posters on the wall over the desk. One was of Kai's elemental symbol. The other was of an electric guitar that Kai was planning to buy. It was black with flames. By the desk, there was a red desk chair. On the wall across the room from the door, was a door leading to Kai's own bathroom. He had gotten his own when they renovated the bounty a few months ago, not everyone had gotten their own bathroom. Jay, Cole, and Zane still had to share. Next to the bathroom door, there was a drawer standing against the wall.

Laying down on his bed, Kai not bothering to get out of his clothes and into his pajamas and go under the cover. So, he just stared at the ceiling, getting lost in thoughts. Without even realizing it, Kai stared at the ceiling for 1 and a half hour. When he finally snapped out of his thoughts, he realized that the others had gone to bed. He was never seen as a guy who would do something like that, but the feeling in his gut made him worried.

The red ninja turned his head to his right and saw the moonlight streaming through the window. He may be the ninja of fire, but he had always loved the moon over the sun. He would choose the night over the day at any time. But very few people thought the same about that as he did, so he had to sleep during the night and stay awake during the day. He had always been a night person, which was something not many people thought.

Suddenly the silence was broken by a wicked chuckle. Kai's eyes widened and he quickly sat up and stared out into his dark room. The window wasn't big enough to light up the whole room, causing some parts of the room to be covered in darkness.

Kai glanced across the dark room, his eyes filled with fear. When the brunette didn't see anything, he thought it must have been his imagination. "I'm more tired than I thought." Laying back down the red ninja tried to fall asleep, but he couldn't shake off the feeling that it hadn't been his imagination, and that someone was really watching him.

...

The next day Kai slept in late. He didn't sleep well, and the others decided to not wake him up.

In about the early afternoon, the master of fire finally woke up.

He woke up with a jerk and it took him a few seconds to realize that he had been dreaming. In the dream Kai had been locked in a small dark room, the room had become colder and colder for every passing minute and Kai had grown weaker and weaker until he passed out and then woke up from the dream.

As he slowed his own breathing, he noticed having a pounding pain in his head which caused him to groan and put a hand on his head. "My head..."

Getting off his bed the brunette walked out the door into the hallway. Hearing some voices coming from the living room, Kai recognized the voices as Nya, Lloyd, and Zane. He walked towards the living room with shaky steps caused by the headache and his vision was somewhat getting a bit blurry.

Walking through the doorway he saw Nya, Lloyd, and Zane sitting on the couch, talking. They all perked their heads in Kai's direction when the floorboards squeaked under the red ninja's feet.

Nya gave her brother a smile that he barely saw because of his blurry vision, "I see the red ninja's finally awake."

Kai took a few steps towards them, "Yeah."

Lloyd then noticed how pale the red ninja was looking, "Kai, are you okay?"

The brunette opened his mouth to respond, but then he heard a terrified scream echo in his head and he didn't even realize he collapsed to the ground until he felt his body hit the floor, his vision was too blurry to make anything out, but he could have sworn he saw a pair of blazing red eyes flash in front of his eyes before everything went dark

A/N Just a quick note, if the text is in_ italic_, then it's ? (his name will be revealed soon) either thinking or talking in his head.

**?'s POV**

As soon as I opened my eyes, I instantly knew something was wrong. I quickly got to my feet and didn't have to think long before knowing where I was.

_I'm in the bounty. I'm in the bounty! How is this possible!?_ Ignoring my own question, for now, I scanned around the room. But then my eyes stopped on something. It was him. He was lying unconscious on the ground, Nya and Lloyd surrounding him. It didn't take long before the nindroid, Zane, came running in with Sensei Wu shortly after.

The old man slowed down when he pasted the shadowy corner I was hiding in, he even glanced in my direction. I felt a slight unease as our eyes locked for a second before he walked over to the male lying on the floor.

"He doesn't have a fever. He must be having a headache or something. Nya, Lloyd, get him to his room. And Zane, see if you can get ahold of Jay and Cole and tell them about the situation. They don't have to rush back, but they should at least know." Wu said, concern filling his voice.

I couldn't help but growl as they carried him away. Zane soon left to get ahold of the two ninjas who weren't here, leaving me alone with the youngest son of the first spinjitzu master. The old man turned to me and took a few steps towards me, it was then I realized he knew I was here.

"Who are you? " he asked me, seeming to already know the answer.

Shaking my head, I tried to sink deeper into the dark shadows surrounding me, "I don't know."

Wu seemed to dislike my answer while also understanding it. "You're lost, what's your name?"

The question struck me like lightning. "My name?"_ I don't have a name, I never got one. Does that mean I get to chose my own? Should I have a name? Am I human enough to need a name? _"I...I don't have one..."

Nodding, Wu proved to be wiser than I thought, or at least I got that impression when his response reached my ears, "You're not from this world, are you?"

"No, I...I'm not. I don't even know what I am."

"Well, what do you know?"

I fell quiet for a while, something was telling me to respond, but I didn't know what to say. "I know everything, but also nothing." _Did I just say that? Was it really me who said it? Or was it someone else?_ "I...I don't know why I said that..." This time I knew it was me speaking, but I still felt as if something was holding me down to the floor, preventing me from actually control what I said.

"You seem to be at war with yourself. Is there anything I could do to help?" His voice seemed concerned and for some reason, I didn't like the fact he was concerned about me.

"Just stay out of my way." _Okay, now I know that wasn't me. The tone and words are enough to prove it._ I felt weaker in my head, and suddenly I was no longer in control of my actions or words. I sunk into the shadows and suddenly I was in another location. I got back control, confused about what just happened. But there was one thing I knew.

Something was wrong.

A/N And there it is, the first chapter of this story, so what did you think, please let me know, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts about it.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Blaze/Bt (don't know which one I should go with, I'll let you guys decide) out!


	3. Chapter two: A shadow reveals himself

**Chapter two: A shadow reveals himself**

**A/N Okay, so yeah, so far I've had so much fun updating this story, as well as putting in the mystery person's POV. He is my all time favorite OC and I really love giving him more story. But I shouldn't waste your time talking.**

**So now, let's get on with the story.**

**I do not own Ninjago, just my OCs**

* * *

When Kai suddenly fainted Nya and Lloyd ran up to him while Zane ran to get sensei Wu.

The ninja of water tried to shake her brother awake but got no response. The white ninja came running in with Sensei Wu not too long after he left.

The old man walked up to the red ninja. He bent down and put a hand on Kai's head, "He doesn't have a fever. He must be having a headache or something. Nya, Lloyd, get Kai to his room. And Zane, see if you can get ahold of Jay and Cole and tell them about the situation. They don't have to rush back, but they should at least know."

Zane ran away to contact the two ninjas while Nya and Lloyd carried Kai to his room.

Laying him on his bed, Nya went to get some medicine for when he woke up. Lloyd sat on the edge of Kai's bed, looking with a worried expression at the passed-out ninja. After all, it was not normal for someone to faint out of the blue as he did.

…

After one hour, Jay and Cole came rushing home being worried about Kai. By that time the red ninja had still not woken up. It wasn't until one hour after Cole and Jay had come back that Kai finally opened his eyes.

Groaning he sat up and rubbed his head, his headache was almost completely gone, unlike the bad feeling in his gut.

Lloyd opened the door to Kai's room to find him awake. The green ninja rushed to the brunette and gave him a hug, "I'm so glad you're okay."

"What happened?"

"You fainted. You've been passed out for two hours."

"Oh…Where are the others?"

"They are in the living room. But Kai, what happened?"

Kai lowered his hands and stared at them for a moment while thinking, "I don't really know. When I woke up this morning, I had this pounding headache and before blacking out, I heard someone scream."

"Do you still have a headache?"

"Yeah. But it's almost gone."

Lloyd sighed and handed Kai a glass of water, "Here, drink this."

Grabbing the water, the red ninja gulped the water down, he then handed the glass to Lloyd. The green ninja took the glass and walked to the doorway, "Get some rest now. I'll tell the others you're awake." He then walked out from the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Kai alone in his room.

Kai groaned in frustration, he hated making the others worry about him, he had to show them he was okay, otherwise they would just worry about him.

He slowly stood up and exited his room. Making his way down the hallway, towards the living room, he felt his bad feeling fading away slightly. When he came to the doorway, he saw the others sitting on the couch and in the armchairs.

Nya turned her head when she heard the floorboards creak under Kai's feet. "Kai?!" The ninja of water ran up to her brother and hugged him causing the brunette to almost fall back. "I was worried about you."

Hugging back, the red ninja smiled, "I know."

The siblings let go of the hug and Kai almost lost his balance for a moment. Nya looked at him, "You might need to sit down." He nodded and Nya helped him to the couch.

In truth, the red ninja hated when others worried about him, but he knew they wouldn't forget about him fainting and believing he was okay for a while.

"How are you feeling? Zane asked the red ninja.

"The headache is a lot better. So, I'm getting better."

"What happened?"

"You're just as clueless as I am really. I just woke up with a headache this morning and then fainted."

"It might have been that you were just tired."

"Yeah, maybe. I'll try to get some more sleep tonight, I don't think I can fall asleep now anyway, so I won't even try."

Jay stepped up, "How about we spend the rest of the day watching some TV and eating snacks?" Everyone smiled and nodded, well everyone except Kai. The bad feeling in his gut wouldn't go away and he was worried about it.

Jay and Cole went to the kitchen and got some snacks while the others choose a movie.

…

Five hours later the others had one by one went to bed, everyone except Kai. Lloyd was the last one to leave. He looked at the red ninja, "I think you should go to bed."

Kai shot him a smile, "I promise that I will, soon."

"Okay, but if I find you here tomorrow morning then I will ban you from training until you get some proper rest." Lloyd then left.

Kai's headache had stopped completely a while ago, so he wasn't very tired anymore. He turned off the TV since he didn't really want to watch it anymore anyway.

With the TV off, silence filled the living room. The moonlight made its way through the windows giving off a calming blue-white light. Kai had wrapped himself in a blanket and just stared into nothingness while thinking.

That's when he heard it, the same wicked chuckle from the night before. The chuckle made the brunette's bad feeling grow more than ever before.

Turning his head, he scanned through the room. His eyes stopped at the corner by the doorway to the hallway. In the darkness of the corner, a pair of glowing, blazing red eyes were staring at Kai.

The master of fire didn't move, his body was frozen in fear. The eyes suddenly disappeared, and Kai gained back the ability to move. He turned his head forward and almost let out a scream when he saw a person standing right in front of him.

The man had black hair that was styled in spikes just like Kai's. His eyes were blazing red and his skin was a light shade of grey. He was wearing a black hoodie that was ripped in some places on the sleeves, his pants were a pair of black, ripped jeans, and his shoes were black sneakers. Around his neck, he had a silver chain with a dragon that was holding a dark red ruby on it. His face was almost an exact copy of Kai's, except for a scar over his left eye, instead of just over the eyebrow.

The brunette stared at the male, his eyes filled with fear, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I want to help."

**?'s POV**

It had been five hours since I woke up, and honestly, I wish I was back inside his head. Because this was more mocking and annoying than watching someone else live their life. I was not alive. No one could see or hear me, they could see me when I was in the shadows, but not when I was in the light.

I was...a shadow...to them, nothing more.

I wanted to leave this place, in what way, I didn't care. Why would I care, it's not like anyone would be concerned whether I died or not. No one even knew I existed, well, no one except for Wu that is, but that old man knows nothing more than the fact that I was on the bounty.

Maybe...Maybe there actually was someone who knew I was here. Maybe he would actually be able to see me.

I tried to look for the flying ship in the sky and when I spotted it I wasted no time trying to get there. The only problem was that I had no real physical presence which made it impossible to climb on things.

I could feel a slight wave of power wash over me as the darkness of the night grew closer. Then a thought hit me, _what I did earlier, could I maybe do that again? It's worth a shot._

Focusing on the living room of the bounty, I suddenly felt like I was falling for a second before I opened my eyes and found myself in the living room of the ship. Scanning around, I spotted Kai sitting on the couch, appearing to be lost in thought.

Then I suddenly felt as if I slipped away from the world and when my hand moved, I realized that I was not doing it. Something was controlling me, or at least my body. I tried to fight it, whatever it was, but I couldn't gain back control.

I raised my head and stared at Kai, a low dark chuckle escaped my mouth causing the brunette to turn to me, fear in his eyes.

Before I could proses why he looked scared, I was suddenly in front of him. He turned his head forward and I could see how he held back a scream. He then scanned over my face and body, probably processing if he knew who I was. Which I already knew he didn't.

He looked at me with both fear and confusion written in his gaze. "Who are you? What do you want?"

I wanted to respond, I wanted to tell him everything, especially seeing as he could apparently see me as more than just a shadow, but I couldn't, nothing I did was enough to gain back control over my body. "I want to help." _I didn't say that! Who said that!? What are they talking about?! _

I wanted so badly to move, to talk, to do anything that could show Kai that I wasn't the one in control here, but I was unable to do anything else than to watch, hear, and feel everything my body did, said, or touched, but it wasn't me doing it.

I was not in control.

* * *

**A/N So that was chapter two of book one, hope you all enjoyed. Now, until next time.**

**Blaze/BT out! (Still trying to figure out which one I should go by)**


	4. Chapter three: A talking shadow

**Chapter three: A talking shadow, a fire's doubt**

**A/N So the title for this chapter was a bit too long, that's why only half of it is on the list of chapters.**

**Anyway, on with the chapter. **

* * *

"I want to help." The words made Kai a bit confused.

"Y-you want to help? With what, and why?"

"I want to help **you**, Kai." When the male uttered Kai's name it sounded like it was poison on his tongue and that made the red ninja worried.

"W-What do you mean?"

The male sat down next to Kai and put his arm around his shoulders, "I'm surprised you haven't noticed. But the other ninjas don't want you here Kai. They want you gone."

The brunette removed the male's arm and stood up, his back facing the male, "I know that's not true. Just earlier today they were worried about my health."

A smirk formed in the corner of the male's mouth, "If they really cared about you then they wouldn't take your bad feeling as it was nothing. If they really cared they would have tried to find the cause of the feeling and try to help you. But did they do that?"

Kai lowered his head and rubbed his left arm a bit, "N-No. They didn't."

"Exactly. So, what makes you think they actually care?"

Kai turned his head to the right and looked at the doorway leading into the hallway that lead to their bedrooms, "I...I don't know..."

The male smirked and then sunk down into the floor. Kai looked down and almost jumped back when he saw that his shadow was moving, and it had glowing, blazing red eyes. "I'll give you time to think about it." The shadow said and it made Kai realize that it was the other male. The shadow then turned back to normal.

Kai sat down on the couch and grabbed his head with his hands. "What's happening to me?"

…

The next day Lloyd entered the living room to find Kai sleeping on the couch. The blond teen let out a sigh and walked over to the sleeping brunette. He gently shook Kai's shoulder causing the red ninja to wake up with a jerk and bolt into a sitting position. He turned his head to the green ninja, fear in his eyes for a moment but when he realized it was just Lloyd he relaxed, and the fear faded a bit.

"Whoa, take it easy Kai. Did you have a bad dream or something?" Lloyd joked.

Kai rubbed the back of his head and faked a laugh. The green ninja looked at the brunette as the realization hit him, "You had a bad dream?" Letting out a sigh, the red ninja nodded.

"What was it about?"

"It...-" Kai froze. Across the room, the shadow of the male from last night moved on the wall. The shadow made a sign to him to stay quiet and the fire master understood he wasn't allowed to tell the others about this. He didn't know what could happen if he didn't listen, and he was afraid to find out. "It was nothing now that I think about it. Just some silly dream that put me a bit on edge. Just forget about it." Kai faked a smile towards Lloyd and the shadow of the male disappeared.

The brunette then stood up, "I'm going to go to my room, see you later Lloyd!" Kai then left before Lloyd had a chance to respond. The blond male watched as his normally hotheaded teammate disappeared in the doorway and then down the hallway.

Kai closed the door behind him and let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. He sunk down to the floor and tilted his head against the door, looking slightly at the ceiling.

"You made a smart move when you listened to me, Kai." The male's voice echoed in the room. It was now that the red ninja noticed how similar the male's voice sounded to his own, the only difference was that the male's voice was a bit darker and more wicked in the tone.

"Why didn't you want me to tell him?" The shadow of the male showed on the wall, his red eyes made a chill go down Kai's spine. "I asked you to stay quiet for your own sake, Kai. If you would have told him then he would have laughed at you and thought you were crazy. Would you really have wanted that?"

Kai looked down, "No..."

"Exactly, so next time keep in mind what you want to tell your 'friends'." The shadow then disappeared, and Kai let out a sigh. He got up and walked over to his drawer and changed clothes. he was now wearing a red hoodie, black jeans, and red sneakers. He pulled up the hood and left his room. When he walked through the living room, he saw Lloyd and Nya talking. The two turned to Kai. "Where are you going?" Lloyd asked.

"Out," Kai said blankly and then left.

Kai walked through Ninjago city for a while before he got enough of the constant sounds from all the people and cars. He put in his headphones and put on his music. Demons by Imagine Dragons came through the headphones as Kai walked through the city. But he stopped by an alleyway near the park. Without knowing why, he paused the music and felt a chill go down his spine and then a sudden urge to enter the alleyway.

Curiosity killed the cat, but Kai didn't think about that and entered the alleyway. When he came to the end, he understood why he had felt an urge to go in. The male from before stood in the alleyway leaning against the wall, wearing a smirk.

"Oh, it's you again," Kai said as he rolled his eyes.

"You should watch your tone, Kai. You don't want to get on my bad side."

"Same goes for you. I'm starting to get really annoyed by you."

"Of course you are. You're called a hothead for a reason. But that's not the point. Even if I get on your bad side, it won't change anything. You can't defeat me, no matter how much you try."

"Oh, we'll see about that." Kai charged a punch at the male. But the man dodged, and the red ninja's fist hit the wall. Stumbling back in pain the brunette noticed that his hand had started to bleed a bit. Kai bit his lip, trying to hold back a scream.

"See, what did I tell you. Face it, Kai, you know what I'm saying is the truth. Your team doesn't want you there."

Kai stomped his foot on the ground, "You're wrong! They both need me and want me there. They care about me. They're my family..."

"Are you sure about that, Kai?" Kai wanted to say yes, but he knew he would be partly lying if he did. He wasn't sure that they cared, he never had been. Kai turned around and started walking towards the exit from the alley.

But just as he was about to leave he heard a scream in echo in his head. _KAI! HELP ME! _It made the ninja slow down into a halt. Something or someone had screamed for his help, but who? And from where?

The male disappeared in the shadows with a final sentence, "The name's Shadow, just so you know." Kai turned his head, only to see that the male, apparently his name was Shadow, had disappeared.

Kai shrugged and started walking away, but his mind wouldn't

**A/N Just a quick update on the information, if the text is in_ italic_, then it's Shadow either thinking or talking in his head (but you all know that by now), but if it's in _italic with an underline_, then it's the evil side of him talking in his head. If it's outside his head, then his text is normal whether it's his evil side, or him talking.**

**Shadow's POV**

"Y-you want to help? With what, and why?" _Nothing! I don't know what's going on! Kai that's not me talking!_

"I want to help you, Kai."_ With what!? He doesn't need my help with anything!_

"W-What do you mean?"_ I don't know! That isn't me!_

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed. But the other ninjas don't want you here Kai. They want you gone." _That's not true! They love you as a brother! They all do!_

"I know that's not true. Just earlier today they were worried about my health." _Exactly! They care!_

"If they really cared about you then they wouldn't take your bad feeling as it was nothing. If they really cared they would have tried to find the cause of the feeling and try to help you. But did they do that?" At this, I had not much to say, mostly because I was the reason for his bad feeling. Whatever was controlling me, was using me to trick Kai. _It's not...true_

"N-No. They didn't." _Kai, don't believe him! He is lying!_

"Exactly. So, what makes you think they actually care?" _There are too many reasons to count!_

"I...I don't know..." _KAI! DON'T BELIEVE HIM!_

"I'll give you time to think about it." _HE DOESN'T NEED TIME! HE ALREADY KNOWS WHAT TO DO!_

I teleported to an abandoned house in the forest where I fought back and took back control over my body. I tried to teleport back to the bounty, so I could tell Kai the truth. But I couldn't get back there, something was preventing me from doing it.

_You can't keep denying who you are._

Snapping my head up I scanned around the room, searching for the source of the voice, but I couldn't see anyone.

_I'm not there. I'm in your head._

I froze and closed my eyes, trying to talk back to whoever it was in my head.

_Who are you?_

_I'm you, the true you. The you that was supposed to gain full control once you left Kai's mind. But apparently, you have more mental strength than I first thought._

_Umm, thanks?_

_That wasn't a compliment._

I rolled my eyes._ Of course, it wasn't. Now, can you please explain what your planning to do with Kai?_

_It's easy, I'm planning to take over Ninjago. But seeing as we are nothing more than a shadow and can only touch Kai, we need him to complete the plan._

_You know I can't let you do that, right?_

_Oh, but you should let me do it. After all, you were the one who was tortured by his thoughts, why do you want to protect him or the place that ignored your wish to be alive and mocked you instead?_

_Because it isn't right to hurt someone, and even if Kai may be guilty of torturing me, that doesn't mean the rest of Ninjago has to pay as well._

_But don't you want to make Kai pay for what he did to you? We both know the best way to do that is to hurt those he cares about, and leave him helpless throughout it all._

_No! It isn't right..._

_I know you want to watch him suffer, you are his dark side, his evil thoughts, his bad emotions, his fears, everything he tried to compress and hide from everyone else, even the lust for power that he hid away after Lloyd became the green ninja. You even said it yourself when you first took control, "You had all the power, now it's my turn", or my all-time favorite, "I should have been the green ninja". You were the one who said those things, not me. And I know they are what you feel deep inside._

_No...It's not true...I said those things because..._

_Because you wanted to tell the truth. And you did._

_But...that's not the truth..._

_You can deny it all you like, but we both know it was, and still is, what you truly want._

_N-No..._

_See? You can't even talk back, because you know it's true._

_No, it's...not...true... _I sunk to the floor, my back resting against the wall, and tears clouding my vision. _I don't want to be a bad person._

_Well, it's what you are. What you're destined to be. What you want isn't going to change that._

I had no response, I didn't know what to say. Maybe the voice was right, maybe there is no chance for me to be a hero or even a good person. Maybe I was destined to be a villain, maybe there was nothing else for me in this life, then to hurt others.

_You don't have to do it yourself, just let me have control, and I can do the hard work for you._

My thoughts were all over the place, but I kept coming back to one response, which ended up being the one I choose, _Sure...go ahead... _I then stopped fighting and let the voice take back control, and I soon found myself back in the position I had previously lived in, to watch someone else live their life, the only difference was that this time, it was my life.

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**Also, before I go I just wanted to say that I appreciate any support you give. This is my absolute favorite story out of all the stories I've written so knowing that others enjoy it as well is so heart-warming to me. Thank you all.**

**Blaze out! (****I've decided. From now on, you can refer to me as Blaze.)**


	5. Chapter four: A trick of hatered

**Chapter four: A trick of hatred**

**A/N So I'm back with another chapter on this. I'm sure most of the people reading have noticed that I don't have a schedule that I follow, and that's mostly because I can't have one. If I were to make one then suddenly writing would feel like a must and it would take away a lot of fun with doing it. I may make a schedule later, but for now, the chapters will upload randomly.**

**Another thing, Shadow's POV isn't always related to the respective chapter it's in, sometimes, it can be about a scene from the previous chapter or maybe even from the next chapter. So keep that in mind before complaining about the scenes in his POVs.**

**Shadow's POV**

I watched as Kai stepped into the alley, his eyes shimmering with curiosity. _Which will get him killed one day I swear._

"Oh, it's you again," I saw him roll his eyes and couldn't help but do the same at his failed attempt at pretending to be tough towards us-I mean me! Because I knew he was scared of me.

"You should watch your tone, Kai. You don't want to get on my bad side." The bad side of me said with my mouth and I sighed sadly. _No, you really don't..._

"Same goes for you. I'm starting to get really annoyed by you." _That makes two of us, I guess..._

"Of course you are. You're called a hothead for a reason. But that's not the point. Even if I get on your bad side, it won't change anything. You can't defeat me, no matter how much you try."

"Oh, we'll see about that," Kai said as he charged a punch at me. But I dodged, and the red ninja's fist hit the wall instead. Stumbling back in pain the brunette stared at his now bleeding fist, and I saw him biting his bottom lip, probably holding back a hiss or pain or something.

_Idiot._ I heard the dark side of me chuckle in my head and unconscionably I pulled my knees to my chest and hugged them tightly, trying to hide away from my bad side, even though it was impossible seeing as we shared the same mind.

"See, what did I tell you. Face it, Kai, you know what I'm saying is the truth. Your team doesn't want you there." A sudden loud thud of some sort made my head snap up and through my eyes, I saw Kai standing in a stance as if he had stomped his foot hard on the ground, and angry expression on his face.

"You're wrong! They both need me and want me there. They care about me. They're my family..." I felt a tear trickle down my cheek as I saw the hint of belief in Kai's eyes. _No...don't believe him...it's all lies, Kai...you know that..._

"Are you sure about that, Kai?" I saw the puzzled expression on Kai's face and suddenly I couldn't force myself to sit by and watch anymore. I let go of my knees and tried to stand up, but something was holding me down, turning my head I saw that it was one of the tentacles that had started this whole mess. I tried to kick it off but couldn't get it to let go of my ankle. Then I heard footsteps, which caused me to lift my head only to see Kai walking away. I tried to reach out to him, but the tentacle was trying to pull me away from taking back control. Then more came and they grabbed my arms, my forehead, pulling me deeper into my mind.

Kai was just about to leave the alley when I got the tentacle that was covering my mouth away and let out a scream. _KAI! HELP ME!_

And then, I was pulled into the darkness, unable to see what was going on, but I could hear one last thing before I was cut off from the world, "The name's Shadow, just so you know."

**3rd person POV**

On the way back to the bounty, it had started to rain. Usually, Kai would start running since he didn't want to get wet and cold. But this time, unlike all the other citizens in the city who were running to get inside or walking under their umbrella, Kai didn't care.

Shadow's words had twisted the red ninja's thoughts in a way that no one had ever done before. And he hated it. He hated not knowing if Shadow was telling the truth or if he was lying.

Shivering from the cold breeze that swept by, Kai tried to keep himself warm by heating up his hands, not enough to set his hoodie on fire, but enough to give him warmth. He had been out longer than he thought seeing as it had started getting dark. The clouds covered both the rising moon and the sunset making it a bit darker than usual.

Kai turned on his music again and kept walking. He got lost in his thoughts and didn't even notice he walked out onto the road. Not until a sudden light hit his face, did he realize what was happening. He quickly got out of the way just before a truck drove past the place he had previously been standing.

Kai sat on his butt on the sidewalk, hyperventilating in fear and shock. People walked past him, but no one asked if he was okay, no one seemed to care that he was almost run over by a truck.

"_They don't care. No one does. You're alone, Kai. Just face it._" He heard Shadow's voice in his head. The brunette's eyes began to water. "_You know I'm right. Just let me help you. I am your friend, Kai._" When he heard the last words it made him think for a moment, was Shadow really his friend? The red ninja didn't think about the question for long before he felt anger boiling up inside him, and not towards Shadow either, it was towards his friend, as well as the people who didn't seem to care about anyone but themselves.

Clenching his fists, he let out a hasty and angry breath before standing up and starting to run towards the bounty.

…

When he came back, he didn't care to answer the others' questions about where he had been or why he seemed mad. He just ran into his room, slammed the door behind him and locked it.

He then sunk down to the floor, leaning against the door and started crying. He didn't give a sound from himself, but he didn't stop the tears from streaming down his face either.

He stared into his hands that were slightly bleeding after he had thrown himself onto the asphalt to get away from the truck. The smell of blood was weak and faded but it stung in Kai's nose. He stood up and walked to the bathroom. He washed away the blood and put bandages on his hands.

Looking in the mirror he saw Shadow instead of himself in the reflection. Kai didn't step back or anything like he usually did when Shadow showed up. He just stared at Shadow with a blank face.

"What do you want now?" The red ninja said with annoyance in his tone.

"I'm just trying to help, Kai. If you could just accept that what I'm saying if the truth, then I could help you."

Kai then finally snapped and without even realizing it, he punched the mirror while shouting, "STOP SAYING THAT! IT ISN'T TRUE!" The mirror shattered and the shards were sent flying, a small piece made a cut over Kai's left eye. Groaning in pain he put a hand over his eye. The cut was barely bleeding but it stung like hell. Lowering his hand, he saw a small stripe of blood on it.

He growled in frustration and went out of the bathroom. Sitting down on his bed he buried his face in his hands.

He heard the others go to bed and it made him feel even sadder since they didn't even ask him what was wrong. Lowering his hands from his face he turned his head to the desk and looked at the picture of him and the others. He remembered the day it was taken.

_"Come on Jay!" Cole shouted. "Yeah, I'm coming!" The blue ninja shouted as he ran to the others to take the group photo. Kai and the others laughed as Jay tripped and hit his face on the floorboards. After a few seconds of getting into position, the photo was ready to be taken. But Kai decided to play a prank on the blue ninja. So, he made Jay trip right before the camera took the picture. The photo was taken when Jay was halfway down onto the floor so only parts of his face and upper body was visible. Cole held his arm around Zane while laughing at Jay. Lloyd was holding back a laugh. Kai was holding onto Lloyd trying not to fall over of laughing. Nya was facepalming and shaking her head. Zane looked extremely confused. And Sensei sipped on his tea._

Kai let out a sigh, "Maybe Shadow's right, maybe they really don't care about me."

Just then Shadow appeared in front of the red ninja, "You know I'm right."

Kai looked at Shadow and then felt a wave of sudden anger fill his thoughts, anger towards his friends. "If they want me gone that badly, then why not give them what they want." The black-haired male smirked at Kai's words and the tone he had while saying them.

Shadow held out his hand, "Then let me help you."

Kai looked at the other male's hand for a few seconds before taking it, "As long as they don't get hurt too much, I'm okay with it."

Smirking, an evil laugh made its way out of Shadow's mouth. And it was then that Kai started to feel pain spreading from his hand and through his entire body. He tried to scream but no sound left his mouth, he tried to let go of Shadow's hand, but he couldn't move. It felt like his whole body was burning and he didn't like the feeling at all.

He looked up and saw the look on Shadow's face, and at that moment, Kai understood. Shadow had tricked him.

He tried to scream again and then his world faded to black.


	6. Chapter five

A/N So, I'm back. I might not be able to update on this as much next week, I'm graduating and there's a lot going on during the days before the graduation as well. But I hope you all enjoy this next chapter.

* * *

**Chapter five: A flame hides his pain**

The next day the ninjas thought Kai slept in again. But when the sun started setting, they realized something wasn't right.

Lloyd went to check if Kai was alright. But when Kai didn't answer his knocks, the green ninja went inside.

The blond male stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his teammates room. The smell of smoke was stronger than usual and there were drops of blood on the floor leading to the bathroom. Lloyd went inside Kai's bathroom and the scene in there was worse than in the bedroom. The mirror was shattered and there were shards all over the floor. A few shards had blood on them and there was blood in the sink. The smell made him want to throw up, so he covered his mouth with his hands and ran out of the room.

Rushing into the living room he ended up earning worried looks from the others.

"What happened?" The water ninja asked, her voice sounding concerned and confused.

Removing his hands from his mouth Lloyd let out a hasty breath of disgust, "T-There's blood in Kai's room, but no sign of him." The others shared worried glances and then ran to investigate the red ninja's room. The green ninja followed them after gathering up some courage.

When they got to the room Zane scanned the blood. As well as the mirror shards. "There's no doubt about it, it's Kai's blood. It's dry, guessing it's from last night. Kai was also the one who shattered the mirror, he punched it with his right hand. But I don't know why."

"What happened last night?"

"We should have checked up on Kai before going to bed..."

All the ninjas walked out of the room and went outside to get some fresh air to get rid of the blood smell. They all took deep breaths of air once outside.

But an evil chuckle disturbed the silence that was filling the space between the group of heroes.

The ninjas turned to the roof, where a shadowy figure sat with lowered head. The night had started to fall on Ninjago giving the figure perfect darkness to hide in. The heroes stared at the figure with curios and confused gazes.

"Who are you!?" Lloyd shouted, his voice sounding angry.

The figure chuckled and lifted their head to reveal two glowing, blazing red eyes. The gaze he gave the group made shivers go down their spines and all of them fighting not to back away. "I guess I should introduce myself." The figure's voice sounded like Kai's only a bit darker.

The mysterious figure disappeared from the roof and reappeared in the shadows created by mast behind the ninjas. The ninjas turned around and took a few steps back.

And as the figure left the shadows and the ninjas all gasped. Because in front of them stood Kai, but his eyes were blazing red, and he was wearing a wicked smirk on his face.

"K-Kai?"

"Close Lloyd, but not quite right. The name's Shadow, I'm Kai's dark side. Or his, shadow, if you prefer that."

Lloyd took a closer look at Shadow's eyes and realized where he'd seen them before. "You! You were the one who almost killed me on Chen's island!"

"I'm flattered that you remember that. But don't take it personally. I don't have any intention of becoming the green ninja anymore."

"What did you do to Kai!?" Nya shouted, her voice sounded angry and worried.

"I tricked him. I made him believe you all hated him. He then agreed to let me help him when, but really, I was only helping myself."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Simple, I was created by the magic power stealing staff, it gave me the ability to steal others' powers. Kai may not have known I was there, but he unintentionally kept me locked away in the deepest, darkest parts of his mind. The place where he is now. I eventually found my way out, but it was too good to be true. I wasn't real. I was only a shadow, and I could only touch Kai, the rest of Ninjago was out of my reach. It was infuriating. But then I realized that I could give Kai illusions and pain, so I used it to my advantage. I really thought it would take longer, but all I needed was two days, and Kai believed me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to take what should have been mine ages ago. Ninjago. All I need is to steal powers from the elemental masters and once I have enough powers, I will become real and get a body of my own. And then I will make sure Kai goes through the same pain I went through."

"We won't let you do that!" Lloyd shouted and they all got into fighting positions.

Shadow let out a laugh, "You really think you can beat me. I know all your strengths and weaknesses. I know everything that Kai knows, maybe even a little bit more."

"Just because you have the advantage of knowing our weaknesses and strengths, but that doesn't mean we won't try and save Kai."

"Why would you want to save him? He was already doubting your friendship and trust before I started messing with things. He's been feeling out of place for months. And you haven't really helped. Teasing him, annoying him. You didn't even ask him what's was wrong last night, even though he came back here being angry. How can you call yourself his family when you never even tried to listen? He's been having a bad feeling for a long time, but every time he told you about it, you just said he was paranoid and stressed. When actually, that feeling was a warning. A warning about me."

The ninjas all stood silent, their guard dropping slightly. They hadn't realized what they had been doing to Kai. Or that they had been ignoring his feelings.

"We did that?..." Nya's voice was low and filled with guilt.

Lloyd looked over the guilty expressions on his teammate's faces. He did feel guilty too. He turned his attention back to Shadow, and when he saw the smirk on his face, he lifted his guard back up and stomped his foot on the floorboards, "Maybe we have been bad friends to Kai! I know we have! But that's another reason why we need to save him, so we can apologize for what we've done! We can defeat you because we care about Kai!" The others lifted their guard up too and agreed with their leader.

Shadow chuckled in response, "You are so stupid that it's almost funny. But I would like to see you try." Shadow got into a fighting stance and took out two fighting knives with extendable blades from behind his back. The steel on them was silver and blank, the handles were red leather with some gold details.

"Nice weapons," Cole said and took out his scythe, "But they won't help you now." The earth master charged at Shadow and tried to hit him with the scythe, but the knife-holding male was surprisingly good at dodging, almost as if he already knew what the black ninja was going to do.

The others joined their teammate and they all tried to hit Shadow. But he dodged all the attacks, not attacking back at all, proving he was different from Kai who usually went with attack rather than defense. The ninjas were all getting tired, but their opponent didn't seem to get tired at all. They stopped attacking for a second and surrounded him.

**Lloyd's POV**

Shadow smirked and turned to me, "What did I say, Lloyd. You can't defeat me, and I haven't even tried to attack you yet."

I gripped my sword tighter, "Then how about you stop being a coward and try to attack us."

Shadow's expression tightened in annoyance, "You really are annoying." He then smirked, "But fine, if you want your butt kicked then that's fine by me."

We all charged at Shadow. He dodged our attacks and attacked back. He punched Cole in the stomach causing the black ninja to fly backward into Jay and knock him over. He kicked Nya in the side and then picked up Zane and threw him at her. They both landed on the floor with a thud.

I charged at him again and he kicked me hard in the stomach causing me to fly back. I hit the wall and fell to the floor gasping for air after the hard hit. I saw how he took the others' powers and then turned to me and walked a few steps towards me, "You know, I admire your confidence that you were going to win. It reminds me of someone we both know very well."

My eyes widened and I froze for a second, "Kai" the name came out as a whisper.

A whisper that Shadow heard, "Exactly. You two are very alike, Lloyd. You both refuse to give up, you both care for everyone else more than yourself. I recall you two being best friends for a long time. And yet, you believed for such a long time that Kai meant what he said on Chen's island. You really believed that Kai would be ready to hurt you if he was strong enough. But the truth is, Kai would never hurt any of you if he didn't have a good reason. He wasn't even so much for hurting you and the others even when he thought you all hated him. But all of you had no problem hurting him, but it was the worst with you, Lloyd. Kai sees you differently than the others, so every time you said something that hurt him, it was more painful."

My eyes started to water. I really had been a jerk to Kai, even though I never noticed. I looked down at the floor, I didn't want Shadow to see me cry. "You even hide your tears, just like Kai did."

I froze and quickly lifted my head. Shadow smirked and rolled up his sleeve. My eyes widened and I held back a gasp. There were scars on Kai's arm. It wasn't many, but at least a few, and I knew they weren't from battle. "He...He cut...himself..." The words barely left my mouth.

Shadow rolled down his sleeve again and put away his knives, "Yeah, he did. It wasn't much, but he did it. And it was because of you. Not the others, not sensei Wu, just you Lloyd. You were the biggest reason why he was so easy to trick, because you didn't see how much he needed help. And now there's nothing you can do about it. Kai was breaking in silence, and you did nothing to stop it."

I started staring into space and became lost in my thoughts. Kai cut, and it was because of me. My best friend had been breaking apart and I never noticed. Was that the reason he fainted? Because he wasn't taking care of himself. Or was it because of Shadow? I came back to reality and looked at the male in front of me. For a moment his face flashed to an expression of pain and guilt, but the eyes were what made me gasp, they were Crimson. But the expression turned back to Shadow's red eyes and wicked smirk just as fast as it came.

He looked at me, a little bit of confusion on his face, "What is it, Lloyd?" I stared at his face and his eyes. That's when I saw it. In Shadow's blazing red eyes, there was a tiny hint of pain and guilt. Kai's pain. Kai's guilt.

Clenching my fists I slowly stood up. "Ready for round two, Lloyd?" I closed my eyes tightly and clenched my fists even more, "No" I said through gritted teeth. "I can't defeat you. But I know who can."

"And who is that?" Shadow asked, confusion hinted in his voice.

I opened my eyes and stood up as straight as I could, "Kai."

Shadow smirked and held back a laugh, "If you haven't noticed, Lloyd, Kai can't do anything to stop me. He's too weak."

"No! No, he's not! Kai is one of the strongest people I know! I know he can defeat you! You may know all our strengths and weaknesses, but you would never understand Kai's strengths! He is strong, not because of training or experience! That makes him strong, yes! But what makes him one of the strongest if his personality! He is strong because of his care for others! He's strong because he never gives up! He may have his flaws, like often acting without thinking, or having a short temper! But those flaws are too weak to overcome his strengths! He would give his life for a stranger if he had too! And he will stop at nothing to protect us! You say there's nothing he can do to stop you! But I know there is! Even if Kai is mad at us, he will never let you control him!"

"And why is that?"

"He doesn't take orders from anyone! If he wants to do something, then he will do it! Even if someone says no! The only way to stop him at those times is to have a good reason to why he can't do the things he wants to do! But you do not have a good reason for him to listen to you! Kai is stubborn, and that makes him a pain in the side sometimes! But we still love him! He protects us! He makes sure we're safe, before thinking about himself! He hides his own injuries because he doesn't want us to worry!"

"It doesn't matter how stubborn he is, I'm stronger than him."

"NO! HE GETS HIS STRENGTH FORM THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM! SO AS LONG AS WE BELIEVE IN HIM! HE CAN BEAT YOU!"

(A/N If the text has an underline, then it's Kai talking, but that is only during this part of the story)

Shadow opened his mouth to say something when suddenly his eyes widened, "No. You can't. you...! won't...! win...!" Shadow's voice shifted at the last part, just like if someone else was talking.

I then realized who that voice belonged to, "Kai."

Shadow gripped his head and closed his eyes tightly. He then started to shout, "You can't defeat me! I'm stronger! You can't hold me down either! So, I guess was at a dead end! But I'm still going to try! You're a fool! No! You're a fool if you thought I wouldn't try to fight back!"

The others sat up and watched, they were feeling a bit weak gotten their powers taken. Shadow screamed in pain and fury and started stumbling around. "I won't lose to you! And I won't let you win! You can't stop me! You can even tell-! Shut up! It's better if no one knows! That's why they should know! You wouldn't dare! Try me! I will win and then I will end your pathetic life! I won't let you!" Kai backed into the railing and put his hands on the rail to keep him from falling and opened his eyes. He turned his head and looked down. The clouds were blocking the view under the bounty. Kai then lifted his head and looked at the others and then turned his head to me.

I gasped, his eyes were back to crimson. I saw sadness, guilt, pain, regret, and even love, in his eyes. It took me a moment to realize what he was going to do. I tried to shout at him to not do it, but the words wouldn't leave my mouth.

"What are you doing!? Ending both our pathetic lives." Kai then quickly moved. He turned around and grabbed the railing and jumped over it. I watched in horror as it happened. Running over to the railing I looked down for any sign of Kai. But I couldn't see him.

Then I saw stripes of colored light coming towards the bounty. It was the others' powers. The powers flew up and onto the ship and went back to their rightful owner.

Nya stood up, feeling a lot better after having her powers returned, and ran to the railing, screaming her brother's name. Cole and Zane had to hold her back to prevent her from jumping off the ship. She tried to get out from their grip, but she was too devastated to use her full strength. Her screams echoed through the sky. They sounded so pleading and desperate that it hurt to hear them. "KAI! LET ME GO! KAI! KAI!"

**Shadow's POV**

I had been unable to see or hear what my bad side had been doing ever since our encounter with Kai in the alley and my bad side deciding a name for me. A name I didn't really approve of, for that matter. But it's not like I can change the name now, I can't even take back control anymore, something was making me too weak to even try. _Do I even want to try?_

At this point, I really didn't know, the only thing giving any will to try and take back control was the thought about Kai getting hurt. But it wasn't enough to motivate me anymore. The more time I spent in this dark empty void, the weaker I felt, and the more meaningless my life seemed. It was almost like this void was draining me of my mental strength. _But why would I care if it did? It's not like I have anything to fight for._

But suddenly, I felt another presence in this dark void, and it wasn't my bad side. Lifting my head up, I crawled into the direction I came from when I got lost in here. And that's when I saw him. He was standing with his fists clenched, looking like he would fight anyone who dared to get close. He was shaking, and not like if he was cold, no, he was trembling of fear, _but why? And why was he here?_

I didn't have time to think it over before I saw his legs crumble underneath him and he fell. I shoot forward and caught him before he hit the floor. He groaned and opened his eyes back open, but when they landed on me, he scrambled to his feet and backed away from me, his fists up defensively. "What did you do to me!?" His voice was shaking of fear, which I could hear even though he tried to hide it.

I held up my open palms defensively and turned my head away, "_I haven't done anything!_" My eyes which had been shut tight now opened as I realized there's only one way he could be here. Turning my head to the brunette, I felt fear taking over me, "_You trusted him!?_"

Kai tilted his head, confusion flashing in his eyes, "Who?"

I grabbed my hair and started panicking, "_This is not good! Not good at all!_" I lifted my head towards Kai anger flashing in my eyes, "_Do you have any idea on what you've done!_"

The red ninja's eyes widened and so did my own. At that moment, my voice had sounded so much like my bad side's that I could have sworn it had been him talking and not me. I backed away from Kai, my breathing quickening and my body starting to tremble, "_I...I-I'm not him...I'm not him..._"

For some unknown reason, Kai almost seemed to believe me, which I really can't understand seeing as he has no idea what I'm talking about.

I hadn't even noticed I started to blackout until Kai was suddenly right in front of my face, holding my shoulders hard and shaking me while speaking, "Hey! Keep it together!"

I pushed his hands away and took a few steps back, it was then I noticed the tears that were trickling down my cheeks. "_I..._" I began but lost the words.

"Hey, it's okay. Just tell me what is happening, okay?" His voice sounded so kind and concerned that I couldn't help but chuckle which made me receive a confused look from the red ninja.

"_I should be the one concerned about you, Kai. After all, this is the first time you've been possessed or taken over like this, is it not?_" I could hear the sadness in my own voice and it only made my heart sink even more.

"Yeah, it is." He sounded so unsure, only confirming my claim even more. "But how would you know? And why are you here?"

Lowering my head, I turned my gaze to the floor, not wanting to meet his eyes, "_I'm your dark side. I've lived in your mind for over three years, and only yesterday did I somehow get out and into Ninjago. But it was then my own dark side started taking over._" I told him about everything that happened and everything my own dark side said. And when I was done, I expected him to not believe me and laugh, or hate me, or both. I was not expecting him to give a sympathetic look and feel sorry for me, but that's what he did.

"Hey, if what you say is true, then I'm sorry about what you went through. But right now I really need your help. How do I get rid of this bad side of yours?"

I shook my head, "_I don't know. I took back control before. But I can't do that now._"

"Why not?"

"_Because I have nothing to fight for. At that time I was trying to keep you and the rest of Ninjago safe. But seeing as I'm not supposed to be a hero, I see no reason for me to even try anymore._"

"That's not true. Your destiny is for you to make. He is not the one in control of what you become unless you let him."

I was about to respond when we started hearing voices. Voices belonging to the other ninjas as well as my bad side. At first, we understood that they were fighting, and we both tried to regain control, but none of us were able to do it. Me especially.

But then we got a visual of what was going on, and as soon as Kai saw the sad look on Lloyd's face, I could feel his anger in the air. And when Lloyd started to talk about how much stronger Kai is compared to my...to me, the red ninja started to fight harder than before until he was able to take back control.

Then suddenly, Kai disappeared and was replaced with my dark side, and then it switched back to Kai, then back to my dark side, Kai, him, Kai, him. After multiple switches of who was standing beside me, Kai took back control long enough to do something unthinkable. He jumped off the bounty.

The good news, the ship was flying over the sea at that moment, the bad news, Kai can't swim and was about to drown. But then my dark side, _I'm going to call him Luca, for now_, took back control, which was both good seeing as at least he knew how to swim, the bad news is, well it's not hard to figure out what those are at this point. Kai was then back next to me, looking drained of his mental energy. I reached out my hand towards him but then I felt my whole body freezing and I found myself unable to move.

It wasn't until I felt two hands on both of m shoulders that I understood what was happening. And then I heard a whisper in my right ear, "_This is all your fault._" I spun around only to see that there was no one there. _He's messing with my head. He's a liar..._

I felt something wrap around my ankle which caused me to look down and see the tentacles again, which I now knew were dark thoughts that Luca could control and used to stop me from destroying his plan. The tentacle started dragging on my leg, making me fall forward and then get dragged back into the darkness I had been lost in not too long ago. Kai slowly faded from my sight and I soon found myself locked in the darkness. The dark thought still wrapped around my ankle, holding me in place like a chain. I could hear distant shouting that came from the red ninja, but I couldn't see him anywhere.

Laying down on my back, I spread my arms out and kept my gaze up, staring out into the blackness that hung over me. I could feel the dark thoughts creeping closer to me, but I didn't care anymore. Closing my eyes, I accepted that this was my life now, and nothing could change that.


	7. Chapter six

**A/N So, yeah, I've graduated high school now. That's fun I guess...Or maybe a bit nervous because it looks like I'm going to a school where I know almost no one, which means I'm going to have to make new friends, which instantly is out of my comfort zone. But, I have no choice so might as well try to gather up mental strength for that during summer.**

**Anyway, on with the chapter.**

**I own nothing except for Shadow (So far, more OCs will show up later)**

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**Chapter six: A broken team with a chance**

It took three hours before Nya stopped trying to jump off the ship after her brother. At one point she even hurt Cole, Zane, and Jay a little when they tried to stop her. Lloyd, however, he didn't try to jump off the ship, he didn't go around screaming, and he didn't try to comfort the others. He just sat in a corner of the living room and stared out into nothingness. He was lost in the thoughts that haunted his mind. The words Shadow told him echoed in his head and all he could see was the sad eyes Kai had given him before he jumped.

Nya was devastated, sad, angry, and shocked. But Lloyd was just broken. Tears streamed down his face, but he never noticed. He just felt so broken and alone, that nothing mattered to him right now. Lloyd lost the interest to do anything. He had no reason to smile or laugh. He felt so lost when thinking about Kai being gone. It just didn't seem right.

Wu had tried to help his students with the screaming water ninja, so not even he noticed just how much Lloyd was broken. The green ninja's memories of Kai were the one thing keeping him from completely breaking apart. But the memory he kept coming back to, was the one where the brunette became corrupted by the elemental staff. No matter how much he tried to think of different memories of his best friend, that was the one he kept coming back to.

Shadow had been right, Lloyd had really thought Kai meant what he said that day. But he never said anything about it to his friend. He didn't want to give him a reason to be angry with him.

Suddenly Lloyd felt a flash of indescribable pain in his head and an image of Kai's face flashed before his eyes. He let out a gasp as his breathing quickened in shock. The pain was gone as fast as it came but it had given the green ninja a feeling that didn't leave. Now only one question echoed in Lloyd's mind.

Could Kai be alive?

Lloyd didn't know. But he knew he had to find out. There was no point in sitting around thinking he was gone if the red ninja was alive out there. But then another thought came to the blond male's mind.

If Kai is alive, then that means, Shadow is too.

Lloyd didn't want to think of what could happen if Shadow got enough power to get free, and what would happen to Kai if he did.

Lloyd finally got back to reality and saw that the others were all in the living room trying to get Nya to calm down. He stood up and walked over to them, causing their heads to turn in his direction. "Lloyd...?" The green ninja was taken back at the fact that even Zane, the one who's almost always calm, sounded like he was on the edge of tears.

The blond male wiped away his tears, "We can't sit around anymore." The others gave him sad but questioning glances. "W-we don't know if he's...you know...I mean there could have been water or something taking his fall, or he could have summoned his dragon, there's a lot of things that could have resulted in him being alive... So, we have to start looking for traces of what happened to him... If he's alive, then that means that...Shadow...is as well..."

Nya was the first one to give any response to the statement, "Then...why are we sitting here...? I don't want to find him d-dead... but if there's a chance he's alive... then...then I want to try..."

Wu gave a proud look towards his team, but they all saw the sadness in his eyes. And they all knew that there was a chance their protective hothead was gone forever.

They all summoned their dragons and flew away, backtracking from where they had been when Kai jumped. When they flew lower, they saw that it was indeed sea where Kai had probably landed. The ninjas cheered when they realized that their teammate had most likely survived the fall from the bounty. But Lloyd was worried, if Kai was alive, then Shadow was too.

The ninjas continued to search for the red ninja. After a while, they found land. They all landed their dragons and started to look for signs of Kai. Suddenly Nya let out a happy scream as she found a burn mark on a tree, indicating that the master of fire had been there. "He's definitely been here, but why would he randomly burn a tree?"

The question Lloyd knew the answer to, "He fought something or someone. And I think I know who." The other ninjas gave him a questioning look and he returned it with angry eyes causing them to realize what he meant.

"We need to find him. Before Shadow gets what he wants." Lloyd agreed with Cole, and so did the others.

…

After three days of searching for the red ninja, they had still not found him. And to make matters worse was that there had been reports of elemental masters going missing. No one knew why, except for the ninjas, they knew why the masters were going missing, and by who.

Lloyd had hatred towards the dark side of his friend, but after some thinking, he realized that they couldn't hurt him as long as he was in Kai's body, because they would hurt Kai too. But Lloyd would do anything to help his friend, even if that would mean he had to hurt him a little. But if that could be avoided then he'd gladly do that.

The ninjas were all in the control bridge looking for any sign of where Kai or Shadow was. Then suddenly a video came up on the screen. The ninjas let out a gasp mixed with a growl when they saw who it was.

Shadow was still in Kai's body, and he was smirking wickedly. "Shadow," Lloyd growled.

"The one and only. I must say I'm impressed by your repeating attempts at finding me. Too bad it wasn't enough." Shadow had a wicked glint in his eyes.

"What have you done with the elemental masters!?" Lloyd shouted, anger filling his voice.

"Woah, take it easy Lloyd, short temper is Kai's thing, oh wait." Shadow let out a laugh, "I forgot he's not there anymore. I guess someone must have a short temper for your team to work. And it was not surprising it'd be you, Lloyd."

The green ninja clenched his fists tight and tried to control his anger, "Shadow, stop with your games! We are going to stop you so why not give up now when you still have a chance of mercy!"

"Lloyd, if I was going to give up then I would have done it already. And I know you can't defeat me so I'm not worried. But I might give you a chance at saving the elemental masters since I won't need them when I've taken their powers."

"What about Kai!?"

Shadow let out a chuckle, "Him, well, I'm sorry to say that I won't let you save him. Now that I think about it, no, I'm not sorry. If you want to save the elemental masters, then you can find them in the forest next to Ninjago city. But you better hurry up, before I change my mind." The video then ended before Lloyd got the chance to shout at Shadow again.

The blond had the urge to punch someone, but he punched the wall instead. Cole walked up to the green ninja, "Lloyd, are you okay?"

Lloyd started sobbing and punched the wall again before turning to the black ninja with teary eyes, "Okay? Okay! OKAY! HOW CAN I BE OKAY WHEN KAI IS OUT THERE, CONTROLLED BY THAT...MONSTER!" Cole took a step back from the furious ninja. "This is all my fault! Shadow said it himself, I've been hurting Kai the most out of all of us! I was the one who last saw him before he started acting weird! It's my fault!" Lloyd broke down and sunk to the floor, hugging his knees.

The ninjas all stared at the green ninja, they had never seen him like this.

All the memories between Kai and Lloyd were what repeated in Lloyd's mind. But then it stopped by one in particular.

**Flashback**

It had been late evening. Lloyd had woken up needing some water. He made his way to the kitchen but stopped in his tracks when he saw Kai on the upper deck. The red ninja was resting his elbows and under arms on the railing, staring out into the night.

The green ninja forgot about the water and went out to his friend. "Kai?"

The brunette turned his head to the green ninja and Lloyd saw something sparkle in Kai's eyes. It took the blond a few seconds to understand it was tears. He had never seen the brunette cry, so Lloyd figured something was really wrong.

He walked up to the brunette and stood next to him as Kai turned his head away from the blond boy.

"What do you want, Lloyd?" Kai's voice was slightly cracking.

"I was going to get some water when I saw you here. What are you doing here anyway?"

Kai let out a sigh, "You won't leave until I tell you why I was crying, will you?"

Lloyd shook his head, "No, I won't. So please, tell me what's wrong."

The brunette let out a sad chuckle, "It is just my luck that you would find me here." Lloyd could have sword Kai made an emphasis on the word 'you' but he shook it off. The red ninja then continued, "I'm crying because I'm sad."

"I figured as much, but why are you sad?"

Kai hesitated before answering, "I'm in love."

Lloyd felt a sudden pain in his chest, but he ignored it and stared at Kai, "Is it Skylor?"

Kai chuckled, "No. It's not. I'm over her. It's someone else."

Lloyd thought for a second before asking, "Is it someone I know?"

Kai turned to the green ninja with sad eyes and he could have sworn he saw a slight blush on his cheeks, "Maybe...You might know them..." Kai hid his face and Lloyd could hear the unsure tone in the brunette's voice, almost like he was partly lying.

"Can you tell me who-"

"NO!" Kai shouted as he turned his head to Lloyd. The green ninja took a step back at Kai's sudden outburst which made the red ninja understand what he just did and he let out a deep breath, "I mean, no, you can't."

Lloyd was about to respond when Kai stood up straight, "I'm going to bed, and so should you. See you tomorrow." And with that Kai walked into the bounty and towards his room.

Lloyd heard him close the door to his room and wondered, "Who is Kai's crush?"

**End of flashback**

Lloyd froze and became silent, causing the other ninjas to become worried he would lash out again. But he didn't. He just stared at his hands, tears silently escaping his eyes. "It...It was me..." Lloyd barely whispered the words.

The other ninjas looked at him, "What did you say?"

Lloyd clenched his fists and stood up, "Nothing." He started walking towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

The green ninja stopped without turning around, "I'm going to get ready. We need to save the elemental masters, and then we go for Kai."

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**A/N So Lloyd finally figured it out, huh? Anyway, I would love to hear what you guys think of the story so far, also some guesses/sugestions for future chapters.**

**Until next time, Blaze out!**


	8. Chapter seven

**Chapter seven: An explanation and a realization**

**A/N Okay, I know I haven't been updating in a while but I had to take a break from the internet as a whole for a while. Mostly because I needed some time to think things over, but also because I had to deal with some personal problems. Hope you all understand and enjoy the chapter.**

The ninjas got to the forest near Ninjago city as fast as they could. It didn't take long before they found the elemental masters. They were all weak, proving that Shadow had taken their powers.

The ninjas helped them to the Bounty where they could rest. Lloyd withdrew from the crowd in the living room as fast as he got the chance. But Skylor walked up to him, "Lloyd, can you guys please explain what's going on. Why were we kidnapped by Kai? And what's with his red eyes?"

The green ninja let out a sigh as he knew he had to explain, "Tell the others that I have something important to tell them." Skylor nodded and walked over to the others.

After a few seconds, everyone sat quietly, staring at Lloyd. He walked over to the elemental masters and let out a sigh, "I'm sure you're all wondering what's going on. But I can't give you all the answers, and that's because we don't know everything yet either. But what I can tell you is that the person who kidnapped you and took your powers, that wasn't exactly Kai. From what we know, it all started on Chen's island. When Kai and Skylor were trying to break the staff. There's something that happened that Skylor, Kai, and I haven't told anyone. When we tried to destroy the staff Kai was the one who grabbed it. He used it to get me free and then to save me from some poison and then freeze Clouse. But that's when things started to get out of hand. Kai started acting weird. He continued to use the staff and that's when I realized what was happening. The staff was corrupting him."

Everyone's eyes widened and Skylor looked a bit on edge, it was clear she wanted to forget about that.

Lloyd ignored this and continued, "I told Skylor that we had to destroy the staff and that's when Kai started becoming mad. His eyes were red and switched between his normal eye color and red when he talked like he couldn't control himself. He also mentioned something that I had hoped he was over..."

The green ninja paused, letting out a sigh before continuing, "Before I became the green ninja, Kai wanted nothing more than to be the green ninja. But he got over it... or at least I thought so, but his corrupted self said otherwise. He was close to hurt me and Skylor but you guys showed up just in time. Kai dropped the staff in the explosion from when you exploded the wall and he came back to his senses and then smashed the staff."

Everyone showed looks of worry and confusion but Lloyd continued, "A part of me thought that Kai meant what he said when he was corrupted, but I know better now. The time went by but Kai was never the same after that. He kept saying he had a bad feeling. But we were stupid and told him to ignore it. We never realized that it hurt him when we didn't care. And we unknowingly hurt him by going too far with teasing him and annoying him..."

He sighed again, "And a few days ago, he fainted out of the blue. We're still not sure to why he fainted, but it was after that, that Kai started acting differently. Three days ago, we found out why. When he became corrupted by the staff, it somehow created a dark side to him. His name is Shadow. And he took over Kai's body three days ago. Kai fought him and ended up jumping off the bounty to protect us, but he survived the fall and Shadow gained back control. He then kidnapped all of you and stole your powers."

The room was dead silent. No one said anything for at least five minutes, until Skylor spoke up, "So you mean that Kai's dark side, or Shadow, as you called him, is the one who kidnapped us and took our powers?"

Lloyd nodded, "Yes. And I fear he has enough power to gain his own body. And if that's the case, then both Kai and Ninjago are in danger."

The elemental masters shared a look and then turned to the green ninja, "What can we do to help?"

"Nothing. I don't want to drag you into this more than you already are. I know you all want to help, but if Shadow has all your powers and his own body, then it's too dangerous for you to help, you're too weak without your powers."

The masters were about to argue when Skylor spoke up, "We might be too weak to fight Shadow, but we can at least get ready to help the people in case you can't stop him."

Lloyd rolled his eyes, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Skylor."

They all stared at the green ninja with wide eyes.

"What?" The green ninja asked, confused.

"You're starting to sound like Kai. Is there something you haven't told us, Lloyd?"

The male tensed up, "N-No! I have told you everything I know about Shadow." No one was satisfied with Lloyd's answer, but they didn't mention it.

...

After a few hours, the elemental masters were all sent home. The ninjas went to get some rest, even though it was early afternoon. But the green ninja stayed up and trained.

It didn't take too long for the night to creep in. Lloyd felt that he needed some air and walked out on the upper deck. He placed his hands on the railing and lifted his head and stared at the moon. Lloyd felt a tear escape his eye. He missed Kai, and he could not stop feeling a slight pain in his chest. Lloyd thought about all the times Kai had comforted him in the past, all the times Kai had kicked his butt on training but always give him a hand afterward. Lloyd remembered all the times The brunette made Lloyd feel like the happiest person alive.

Then as the thought crossed his mind, it was like a buss of realization hit the green ninja.

Kai was in love, the blond male had already realized in who. But what Lloyd realized now, was that the person his best friend loved, felt the same about him.

Lloyd lowered his head and punched the railing with a little force, "How could I have been so blind. Not only did I miss my own feelings, but Kai's too. I'm such an idiot." he then lifted his head, staring at the moon and determination filled his eyes, "Don't worry Kai. I'm going to find you. That's a promise." The green ninja then ran to wake the others.

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**A/N Thanks for all the support this story has been getting. It's giving me a lot of joy to see people liking it. I don't have too much to say as for right now. So until next time**

**Blaze out!**


	9. Chapter eight

**Chapter eight: Did he really want to do it?**

After Lloyd woke up the others, they all continued to search for Kai and Shadow. Then after hours, they found something. "There's an abandoned ruin not far from Ninjago city," Zane said causing everyone to walk over to him. And just like he said, there was an underground ruin in the forest. The ninjas all got ready and then headed to the ruin.

When they got to the forest they started searching for the entrance to the ruin. After a while, they found a cave that leads into the ruin. At first, the walls were made out of stone, but the deeper into the ruin they got, the walls changed. They became made out of red bricks instead of solid stone.

After walking in the ruins for a while, the ninjas came to a big room. The room was dark and form what the ninjas could see, it was also empty.

Then suddenly a faint lights came on over the ninjas and they took out their weapons and got into a fighting stance. They looked around the room, their eyes then stopped at the person standing a few meters away from them.

They didn't need any introduction to know that it was Shadow. But he wasn't in Kai's body anymore, and that worried Lloyd.

"I see you found my little hiding place," Shadow said as he lifted his head to reveal his blood-red eyes that Lloyd hated so much.

"No more games Shadow! Where is Kai!?" Lloyd gripped his swords tighter and had to hold back the urge to attack Shadow right then and there.

The black-haired male let out a chuckle, "You want to see him? Well, why not, it's not like you can help him anyway. Shadow snapped his finger causing the light behind him to turn on.

Kai was chained to the wall, cuts bruises all over his body. There was some blood on the floor under him and he was a bit pale. "KAI!" The ninjas all shouted which made the red ninja flinch and lift his head.

"G-Guys..." His voice was weak and empty like it had lost all hope of ever being rescued. His usually bright, cheerful, strong-spirited eyes were now dull and without hope. It was clear that Shadow had tortured him mentally more than physically.

Shadow turned to the ninjas, "Now, would you all be so kind as to give up your powers, or do I have to force you." The green ninja looked at Kai and saw the way his eyes flickered with a small amount of hope when he saw Lloyd. It hurt, but at the same time, it gave him strength.

Lloyd turned back to Shadow, "Over my dead body! You've caused enough problems and pain! It's time to end this!" They ninjas charged at Shadow who took out his fighting knives. He defended himself well against the ninjas' attacks until Lloyd got a kick in Shadow's stomach.

Shadow stumbled back and growled, "You just got lucky Lloyd." Lloyd charged another punch at the pale male, but he blocked it and kicked Lloyd in the stomach.

Shadow was a skilled fighter, almost better than Kai. But what made him harder to beat was the fact that he was a lot better at controlling his rage as well as the small fact that he almost always knew what they were going to do.

Nya charged at Shadow but he spun around in the last second, grabbing her arm and throwing her into Cole causing them both to fall to the floor. The black-haired male took this to his advantage and quickly stole their powers.

There was a war cry behind Shadow that came from the master of lightning as he ran towards him with a clenched fist. Shadow smirked before turning around and grabbing Jay's wrist and executed a move that caused the blue ninja to backflip onto the floor.

Shadow towered over him and gave the ginger a smirk before stealing his powers just like he stole the others. He then looked around the room for the other two opponents he had to deal with.

He wasn't surprised when he couldn't see the nindroid anywhere in the room. Shadow was not a fool, he knew that Zane used his intellect when fighting, and therefore had probably decided to try and sneak up on his opponent instead of using a direct attack.

Shadow heard a slight thud behind him and glanced to his right without moving his head. Zane was sneaking up on Shadow without knowing that the dark fire master already knew he was there.

The white ninja was inches from the other male when he lifted his fist, ready to strike. The fist was sent flying down but Shadow spun around in a swift move and caught Zane's wrist. The nindroid blinked in surprise before Shadow executed a move that caused Zane to fly over Shadow's head and onto the floor. Unforntenly for Jay, Zane landed on him.

Before Zane had a chance to get up, Shadow stole his ice powers and he became just as weak as the rest of the team.

Shadow then turned to the green ninja and took a few steps towards him, "I'll give you one more chance, Lloyd. Give up, and you'll be spared the embarrassment of defeat. Or refuse and be forced to watch as I tear Ninjago to pieces."

Lloyd stared at the male, anger burning in his forest-green eyes. The green ninja scanned across the room, from his defeated teammates, to Shadow who was wearing a wicked smirk, and then to Kai who was chained up, forced to watch as his friends were defeated by his own dark side.

That's when Lloyd saw the pain, guilt, regret, and sadness that filled the red ninja's eyes, and it hit The green ninja like a bus. The brunette was blaming himself for this. He was blaming himself for his family getting beaten down, for Shadow hurting the other elemental masters, for everything. The blond male didn't want Kai to blame himself. This wasn't his fault. It was Shadow's.

And if there were any one of the ninjas to blame, then it was Lloyd. He was the one who hurt the red ninja the most, the one who should have noticed the difference in Kai's behavior, the one who made it easy for Shadow to trick him.

Lloyd was the one to blame, not Kai.

The green ninja felt a fiery rage flow through his veins when he thought about how much pain Shadow had inflicted on the brunette that Lloyd called his best friend.

Gripping the handle on his swords tighter the blond male turned his attention back at Shadow who was smirking widely. Lloyd charged at Shadow, with rage fueling his attacks. He slashed his swords at his opponent over and over and it actually looked like Shadow was having a hard time defending himself from the swords.

But that turned out to have been an illusion because suddenly Shadow got an opening in Lloyd's attacks and used it to kick the green ninja in the stomach with full force causing him to fly into the wall and then sunk to the floor.

Shadow laughed as he walked closer to the barely conscious green ninja. He took Lloyd's powers before he even had a chance to get up.

Shadow turned around and took a few steps away from Lloyd before stopping and turning his head to the green ninja, "You disappoint me, Lloyd. I thought the all so powerful green ninja would put up more of a fight. But I guess even you have your limit." Shadow's tone became sadistic and wicked as he continued, "You just have to know which buttons to press." Shadow turned his head and Lloyd followed his gaze. When the green ninja saw what the dark side looked at, he felt his whole body freezing as if he had been turned to stone.

Shadow was looking at Kai.

Lloyd couldn't lie, he was weak after his powers were taken from him, but he still felt the ever-burning rage to kill Shadow grow.

The black-haired male started walking towards Kai. Lloyd knew what he was going to do, but he wouldn't let that happen. Lloyd slowly stood up, "Shadow!" The black-haired male turned around and smirked, "What is it, Lloyd. Want another round?" The green ninja struggled to stand, but he managed to stay up, "If that's what it takes for you to leave Kai alone, then fine. I'll fight you." He was too weak to fight, and he knew it. But he wasn't going to let Shadow hurt Kai.

Lloyd took a fighting stance and Shadow smirked. The dark side charged at the green ninja who blocked the attack with his swords. The sound of metal colliding echoed in the room.

Kai saw how much Lloyd was struggling just to stand. He knew the blond wouldn't be able to win. The only person who had a chance against Shadow was Kai himself. The red ninja saw Shadow kicking Lloyd in the stomach causing him to fall to the floor.

The black-haired male walked up to the green ninja, gripping the handles on his knives tighter. "You've been a thorn in my side Lloyd. And I think it's time I got rid of the problem." He was just about to strike at Lloyd when the sound of chains breaking echoed through the room, followed by something hitting Shadow's hand causing him to drop the fighting knife. There was a hiss of pain from the black-haired male's mouth, followed by an angry growl. He grabbed the hand that was hit with his other hand, making him drop the other fighting knife as well.

The fighting males turned their heads to where the thing that hit Shadow's hand had come from. They were both shocked to see that Kai had broken the chains and was now standing, his hands ablaze.

Shadow showed a slight hint of fear when he saw that Kai was free. It was like if a wave of strength hit Kai when he suddenly stood up straight and charged at Shadow. The dark side blocked it and a shock wave pushed everyone except the two fire masters back. They were almost equal in strength, but Shadow seemed a little stronger. Kai had to take a step back to not get overpowered by the dark side of himself. The green ninja saw this and understood that Kai was still not fully recovered spiritually.

Lloyd had to do something, "You can do it, Kai!" Kai's attention turned to the blond for a moment before Shadow attacked him causing his focus to turn back to the dark side. Kai was barely able to hold his position and Shadow was slowly pushing him back. "Don't give up Kai! We all believe in you! I believe in you! I'm sorry for all those things we said and did! We didn't know how you felt! I didn't know how you felt! Heck! I didn't even know what I felt! But I do now! Kai! You are strong!" Kai was slowly becoming more of a challenge to Shadow, but something was holding him back.

Lloyd thought of what to say, then it clicked in his head. He slowly stood up and clenched his fists. Kai was close to losing when the green ninja suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "I LOVE YOU TOO KAI!"

It was like time stopped for a moment, Kai stared at Lloyd with the brightest eyes Lloyd had ever seen. And the green ninja smiled back.

Tears filled the brunette's eyes but he quickly wiped them away and then overpowered Shadow by punching him hard in the stomach, causing the dark side to fly back.

The black-haired male fell to the ground and it was like he was hit mid-air because when he landed on the ground, he lay motionless.

Kai panted and fell to his knees, exhausted. The powers left Shadow and returned to the ninjas or streamed out the ruins and ended up back at their owners. Lloyd got his strength back and ran to the red ninja and caught him before the brunette fell to the ground. "Woah, I got you, Kai."

Lloyd sat down next to the fire ninja who rested his head on the blond male's shoulder. "Did...Did you mean it?"

The green ninja turned to Kai who was smiling slightly. Lloyd returned the smile, "Of course I did. I realized how I felt when we were trying to save you."

Kai let out a small chuckle, "I guess Sadow was good for something then."

Kai's eyes turned to the dark side lying motionless on the floor. The fire ninja got up and despite Lloyd's protests about him being too weak, made his way to Shadow.

When the red ninja was a few feet away from him, Shadow let out a groan and tried to get up.

The brunette hesitated before reaching out his hand and speaking, "Shadow?"

The dark side flinched and in a swift motion turned around to face Kai, still sitting on the floor though.

The ninja let out a gasp when he saw Shadow's eyes. They were no longer blood red, instead, they were crimson, just like his own.

Shadow's face showed fear which made Kai confused. "Shadow?"

The dark side backed away from Kai and held out his hand as a sign for Kai to not come any closer, "Don't come closer! I'll just hurt you again!"

The brunette stared at Shadow with confusion filling his gaze.

The black-haired male was shaking slightly and could almost be mistaken for a frightened child.

Kai didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't step closer, "What's going on?"

"I don't want to hurt you anymore Kai. But I can't control myself."

Kai suddenly got a headache and fell to his knees, grabbing his head. He could hear one-word repeat in his head. "Control. Control. Control." Then the headache disappeared as quickly as it came and when the red ninja looked up he saw that Shadow was crying. But what took Kai's attention was when the dark side's eyes turned blood red.

Shadow growled and glared daggers at the brunette before disappearing into the shadows

Kai looked back and saw his friends ready to leave. Lloyd seemed to want to leave, more than the others. He felt confused, but then exhaustion took over and Kai fainted.

* * *

**Okay, so I'm finally back. I'm sorry you had to wait so long, but I had to take a break from the internet for a while and focus on other things. But I hope you all understand.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter and until next time...**

**Blaze out!**


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